Wir Sind Wir

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"Wir Sind Wir"

Single by Paul Van Dyk
Released	June 28, 2004
Format	CD, 12"
Genre	Dance, Trance
Label	Universal Music
Paul Van Dyk singles chronology
Crush (2004)	Wir Sind Wir (2004)	The Other Side (2005)

"Wir Sind Wir (ein Deutschlandlied)" (We Are We, a Germany song) is a single released by Paul Van Dyk in 2004. Unlike most of his other singles, this was not released only any official studio album by Paul. The song features Peter Heppner on vocals.

Tagline: Are we the Land of Poets and Thinkers, the Land of the Wirtschaftswunder, the Land of two World Wars, the Land which was divided and reunited? [1]

Wir Sind Wir deals with the deep feeling of insecurity that permeated the German society in the early 21st century. Germany was in an economic slump, the controversial Hartz IV law cut the welfare state and there was a feeling of division between the one-time West German and East German provinces. The facts that Germany had turned itself from a pariah into a superpower and had reunited itself since WWII were suddenly unimportant.

This is reflected in the lyrics: despite having turned "ash into gold", people were feeling angst and fear of the future (40 Jahre zogen wir an einem Strang, aus Asche haben wir Gold gemacht/ (...) was vorher war ist heute nichts mehr wert). Heppner and Van Dyk then ask, where do the Germans stand, and answer "we are we, we are one, this is just a bad period, and we won't give up" (wir sind wir/ wieder eins in einem Land/ das ist doch nur ein schlechter Lauf/ so schnell geben wir doch jetzt nicht auf).

The song is a powerful statement for all Germans that they are neither bad nor good, but just themselves (we are we). For 40 years, everything went well, and now after some bad years, it is time to stand united and face the future together.

1 Video
2 Reception
3 Track Listing
- 3.1 CD Version
- 3.2 12" Version
4 External links

[edit] Video

The video shows Peter Heppner as an ageless camera man who films well-known images of German history:

The image of Conrad Schumann leaping over barbed wire into the French Sector of West Berlin on 15 August 1961 is considered as one of the most powerful images of the German division.

The destroyed Reichstag
Bombed-out cities, a one-legged man limping on his crutches
Trümmerfrauen (rubble women) salvaging scraps in a bombed-out post-WWII city
The US "Raisin Bombers" dropping food into the starving West Berlin
The soccer Miracle of Bern 1954, widely considered as a watershed moment for West Germany
The building of the Berlin Wall, families crying as they were divided, East German soldier Conrad Schumann jumping over barbed wire to defect into West Berlin
The German Wirtschaftswunder, with new housings, cars and a new level of luxury
The Oil Crisis
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
The rebuilt Reichstag in Berlin

The video is a mix of new footage, and original footage where Heppner has been inserted by chroma key.

Paul van Dyk appears only twice, fleetingly on both occasions, initially reading a newspaper, and later listening to the radio in a bar.

[edit] Reception

The song reached the German Top 10 and was received very favourably. Germans were touched by the hauntingly beautiful atmosphere of the song and the powerful images in the video. It left such a deep impact that Matthias Platzeck, asked Heppner and Van Dyk to perform Wir sind Wir in the official 2005 German national holiday festivities [2].

It also was critisized for being nationalist.